Run Bullies—203 Days until Dopey Challenge

Last week, in researching a story about run/walking, I stumbled upon a website famous for its message board. It’s a virtual place where runners bully other runners. There is a lot of “walking isn’t running,” and “if they go that slow, they aren’t running,” and the always reliable comments about women’s weight.

I’ve been bullied a lot in my life, both physically and emotionally. For instance, in 8th grade, a 9th grade girl knocked me to the ground behind the school. I remember hearing a boy yell, “hit her again!” and being asked by two adults (one of whom claims to love me) what I did to deserve it. I ended up with a concussion. That’s not even on the list of Top Five ways/times I’ve been bullied.

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me is that bullies are jealous and afraid that they are worthless. They believe that by beating you up, whether it’s emotionally or physically, they can bring you down and that that will, somehow, raise them up. That may seem obvious, but, to me, it wasn’t. For decades, I believed everything my bullies said. I never believed the words of the people who actually loved, liked, and cared for me. There were a lot of them, too. I owe apologies to almost all of them.

I say all of this because I think we bully ourselves a lot. Not extensive self-sabotage, but in little, subtle ways. Today, for example, despite the beginning of the heat wave, I ran for 45 minutes. That’s the run on the Galloway Dopey Challenge plan: 45 minutes. But while I was running, I kept telling myself I should do more: Add a Peloton run. Add a Nike run. Go faster. Do more. Ignore the heat.

Eventually, I thought about this way I talk to myself and what is, ultimately, my inability to choose one training plan. I have this crazy mishmash of Galloway Dopey Challenge, Nike Run Club, and Runkeeper. I think that my lack of commitment is a way to bully myself because it keeps me in a cycle of crazy “have tos,” I can’t succeed. I’m always not doing something. If I do the Galloway, I’m not doing Runkeeper. If I’m doing Nike, I’m not doing Galloway. Guaranteed failure.

So, while on my run back home, I decided to just do Galloway. I can still sometimes do a Nike run, because I do love Coach Bennett, but I deleted the marathon plan. I turned off Runkeeper. I like both of these apps a lot, but I’m going to stick with Galloway, partly because his plan is the Dopey Challenge plan, not just a marathon plan. Also, because it’s run/walk and that’s what I do.

By the way, that picture at the top of the page? That’s me, Jeff Galloway, and Westin Galloway after the Disney 10-miler. I was a sweaty, successful mess.